and number three, infrastructure such as the critical refinery. we flew over it. so the secretary had a snapshot of puerto rico. and afterwards we had the opportunity to sit with their assets from the energy department, from the omb office, from tsa, then the administrator is here with us as well. so that we can have a working session with our leads in energy, infrastructure, security and other areas of our government. so we are thankful for her leadership for being here. i have to say that the secretary called on me prior to irma and prior to maria to make sure that we had our assets, let us know

that there were going to be naval assets off the coast ready for puerto rico once -- if we were able to need them. and just to make sure that we could have direct communication in case a catastrophe such as this hit puerto rico. so it is our pleasure to you here, madam secretary, and we would like you to address the people of puerto rico. >> thank you so much, governor. it's really an honor to be here today. even in the difficult circumstances having two major hurricanes in less than three weeks, your team has been exemplary. the president sends his thanks to you, to your representative and to the people of puerto rico for the resilience and their dedication to recovering quickly to their normal lives. the president sent me to puerto rico today to meet with the governor and our unified command team on the ground. i needed to see it in person to

assess to see how making sure that we all had the assets we need to continue the recovery. i'm joined here today by coast guard commander of the atlantic area vice admiral schultz, tsa administer pokowski, lieutenant general of the army corps of engineers and deputy secretary of energy dan brulee. i'll be going up after these comments to meet with our joint field office and ensure they have what they need to continue recovering and these experts will be answering questions along with the governor. we have over 10,000 federal people on the ground. many of them have been here since before irma and stayed in between the hurricanes. we have the department of defense, the national guard, the territorial resources and the federal teams all working together. the amount of integration of the

working teams is really admirable. and it is something that will set the standard for the future. the people, despite working together, i know that the people in puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands are suffering. we are here and we have been here to help them. we are continuing bringing additional supplies and personnel to further assist distribution efforts on the ground. in our visit today, we saw more clear roads and the ability to move from the initial response of life saving recovery and clearing debris into what the governor's current major focus is is more effective distribution of the assets. and that's what we're working on jointly. we are moving forward on that. we have been working closely together to help our fellow americans, and yesterday i was asked if i was happy and satisfied with the recovery.

i am proud of the work that's being done. i am proud of americans helping americans. friends and strangers alike. i am proud of the work that dod, fema and the territory along with first responders are doing. clearly the situation here in puerto rico after the devasta devastating hurricane is not satisfactory. but together we are getting there. and the progress today is very, very strong. the president and i will not be fully satisfied, however, until every puerto rican is back home, the power is back on, clean water is freely available, schools and hospitals are open and the puerto rican economy is working. right now our top priorities are the lives and safety of our fellow americans. there's much work to do. i spent all morning with the governor and received those priorities to make sure we're on target. we continue to stand with the

people of puerto rico and all the survivors of this hurricane. and i thank you for your concerns for this time that's so challenging for so many. >> thank you. madam secretary. also with us our congresswoman would like to make some remarks about the visit today. >> thank you, governor. this is the best example when the federal government is working together with local officials in terms of getting puerto rico ahead. having the secretary here doing the job not alone. she brought all the resources from homeland security, tsa administrator, the deputy secretary of energy. she brought the vice admiral of the coast guard, also the corps of engineers. the communications guys to help the island to recover sooner. and i think this is a commitment of the secretary, this is a commitment of the president and

the cabinet, and we are hoping that this devastation can go away soon. we need to recover. the efforts of the governor of puerto rico and all the local staff working together with the federal agencies are the only way ahead to get these things done. i am proud to work with you, madam secretary, and to assign the resources that are going to be assigned during this next month in congress. before we leave to fema and other agencies. thank you. >> once again, we want to thank the whole team. we want to thank the general, the admiral, want to thank the administrator and the fema team over here but, of course, our homeland security secretary for being here in puerto rico standing strong with the people of puerto rico, making sure that the administration commitments

go through, and we would like to now excuse the secretary. she has to head on over -- thank you, thank you so much. >> they'll be here answering questions. >> we'll be happy to answer any questions of what we've seen today and the efforts of work with the madam secretary. >> nbc. microphone. >> governor, some local officials have referred to the distribution of humanitarian aid so far as a disaster. what's your response? >> well, my response is we are limited from assets, and we identified this a couple of days ago. we've been getting more assets, and we're showing it. we have over here at pr.gov where we're giving some of the data and the update on what we're doing. but just to give you a sense, a lot of the title x asset, title

xxxii assets, the assets we have in fema have been growing. in times of our assets we had will 600. right now we have 4600. and they keep growing, right? what are the asks that we've had for the administration and they're committing to executing is making sure that we can get the dod of what we're requesting over 17 states to come over here in puerto rico. i'm confident that we will get that, and that the distribution will certainly get better. we know we have to do more. we're still not doing -- we're still not getting at the optimal point, but it has been a limitation on logistics. as soon as we get those assets we'll put them on the ground and make sure those resources get to the people of puerto rico.

[ speaking spanish ] [ speaking spanish ] >> you've been watching the news conference with the governor of puerto rico, ricardo rossello. and the secretary of homeland security, elaine duke, not elaine chao, obviously. krist kristen welker at the white house.

elaine duke had to go back and direct the record with what she said yesterday saying she was happy with the efforts. she said obviously the situation down there is not satisfactory, but she's proud of the work that is being done. i was struck that there were a lot of platitudes being given about all the efforts that were going on down there but there wasn't a lot of substance as to what they're doing or how they're trying to change thing, how they're trying to make sure that logistics and supply -- logistics are clear and supplies are getting from the ports to the people. >> and that's, of course, the key question that remains and the administration has been very candid about the fact that that is the biggest challenge. they say they have 10,000 people on the ground, 7,000 who are in the military. and yet they're having this problem in terms of distributing the goods, the food, the water that they need to get to people who are suffering right now, katy. so i think that they're working through some of the details and that may be why that press conference to date -- and of

course, it's still ongoing -- didn't get into a lot of detail about how they're going to recollect ta fi that situation. having said that, they've been very clear they're bringing in more people. to your initial point, i think that is one of the headlines that has come out of this news conference that is ongoing. the fact that elaine duke wanted to clarify her comments from yesterday when she said that the response was a good news story. she clearly got a lot of backlash for saying that. the administration got a lot of backlash. today you heard her say clearly the situation on the ground is not satisfactory, but together we will get there. official says behind the scenes here, look, this is someone who hasn't had a whole lot of sleep in recent days. she's been dealing with a whole host of crises and hurricanes but that the administration knows that more needs to be done. one more point, katie, as you were saying earlier in the show, the president got a lot of flack for tweeting about the nfl over the weekend and sort of sent the

signal that he wasn't focused on what was happening in puerto rico. so the tone has shifted as the week got under way. now clearly it's all hands on deck. that's the message from the administration on this project. >> yeah, as they got roundly criticized about it, then they started to change the focus and the president started tweeting about it. but not before they started to get a lot of criticism. let's go the ground in puerto rico. maria mariana you were listening along in the news conference beside us. when they say they're doing all they can and progress is being made, road is being made does that gibe with how folks on the ground feel things are going? >> that is not what i've been seeing on the ground. that's not what people here have been telling me. we just got poured on and nobody in this line to get ice moved an inch. that's how desperate people are.

people can't sit at home with no power and wait for the roads to be cleared and wait for the supplies to come. they tell me they need medicine for their children. we've spoken to diabetics in this line, there's pregnant women in this line. there's a gentleman over 90 years of age and they've been in this line for six or seven hours because that's the desperation that we're sensing on the ground here. this is bayamon, puerto rico, it's outside san juan. they're telling us they've not seen any sign of help in this area of puerto rico. you'll remember in the prior hour we heard from somebody who had not been able to connect with their family members. well, this gentleman approached us, and he says that he has family in jersey, and he would like to tell his family in new jersey who he has not been able to communicate with that he's okay. you'll allow me to do that. you have a message for your family, sir. >> my name is innes marquaral.

and i'm okay. and this is my wife. >> hopefully the family is watching and hopefully we helped connect you today. this is why we come on the ground, katie. and the situation very dire. i started talking to people in the line. they're still in the search and rescue phase. they're still trying to connect with family members. there's no cell service which makes this hard. this is the gentleman i was referring to before. can you tell our katy tur how old are you? >> 92. >> 92 years old. you just got poured on. how long have you been in this line for ice. in this line. >> i've been about 6 1/2 hours. >> 6 1/2 hours in this line. two bags of ice? [ speaking spanish ] for two bags of ice, katy, this is the desperation we're seeing

on the ground. it does not gibe with what we just heard in the press conference from the white house. >> mariana thank you for bringing us the images on the ground and telling us what people are feeling and seeing and contrasting that with what we're hearing from officials. joining me now by phone is alejandro garcia padilla. he served as the governor of puerto rico from 2013 until a little bit earlier this year. governor, thank you very much for joining us. i know that governor rossello is in a tight spot. he wants to reassure the people that he's getting them the aid that they are asking for, it's a dire situation down there. logistical nightmare. obviously it's hard considering how devastated the island is. but do you think that there is something that the government can do right now in order to make things run a little bit more smoothly or more quickly? >> well, first of all, as you just point out and as mariana

told you, people in the streets are desperate. and she was transmitted from bayamon, that's very close to san juan. if you go further into the island, the situation is worse. if the governor wants to contact a mayor from the south of the island, he cannot. he just cannot. there's no communication from the police department from one town to the other town. it's really a mess. i will not challenge, i will not question the commitment of the governor. i know for a fact that he's committed as well as the personnel that is here. but the aid is not getting to the people. and worse than that, people do not know when they will reach them. >> yeah. and let's be honest, they can't hear any of these press conferences because there is no power, there's no cable news access. you can't find out what exactly is going on with the government response because you're not able

to tune in to hear it. i know there's a three-star general that's down there to help coordinate with the agencies, but do you think, sir, that the military should be put in charge down there to get to distribute the supplies to the much needed areas and to establish a line of communication at the very least between those remote areas and the rest of san juan? what do you think? >> i think that militaries should work together with the elected officials, but the logistics is a mess. and they need to restore communications, for example, as you point out. so imagine that you have no food for your kids or dialysis center near you for a patient or to maintain insulin, it's just basics that have stopped that need to be solved as soon as possible. because people could die. this is a real emergency, and

there's no logistic. and again i know that the governor is committed, i know the federal officials here are committed. i know that fema is doing as much as they can, but, again, this is the metropolitan area. what is happening in the towns farther from the -- into the island is really chaos. i'm not exaggerating. i've been traveling there almost every day. and it's something that needs to be solved. how to solve it, i need the military has to do more with the federal government. i think that congress cannot be penny pinching on this. this is a situation as in harvey in texas and irma in florida that they cannot be counting pennies on how to solve the issue. and i just want to address the issue that the president likes to address things who say that

people is receiving the help or knowing that at least that aid is on the way is fake news. >> governor padilla, governor, thank you so much for joining us. rick scott, the former florida governor is now at the white house right now. he's addressing what's happening in puerto rico. let's listen in. >> and i know that this country's going to stand behind the island and territory of puerto rico, to do everything we can to make sure they get back to normal just like they've done in florida. we've had people volunteer and come to help out all over this country and even outside this country. i know we'll do the same thing for puerto rico. >> governor, given what you have just said. >> i'm sorry, start over again. >> what specific aid do you believe you're going to be sending to puerto rico besides -- >> so what we're doing is we're going to respond to whatever the governor asks. so we already have some national guard assets there. we're helping them do their

emergency requests, because you know about only 5% of the island has power and about only 28% have cell connection. so even when i call, i just talked to the governor a few minutes ago, even then we got disconnected. we did a conference call with the agency heads. that got disconnected. we're having a lot of communication problems. but we for sure are going to be doing that. they're asking for a lot of resources which we are logical support for that because we have a lot of spanish speaking law enforcement and we're close. so i'm sure we'll be helping there. but we've told them whatever their needs are, we're going to be there. i've already said asked all of the state colleges to give tuitions to puerto ricans, students that come to florida. we're going to see how we can help them with their k-12 education in that regard. so we're just going issue by issue. but right now we've got to get

truck drivers there, we've got to get trucks there. we've got to get generators there. that's their need. there will be new needs when this goes on. they have washed-out roads. so weem help them with procurement and we have assets, just like florida did. >> obviously a big concern as all the puerto ricans that might be leaving the island and then going to florida for who knows how long while the situation down there gets resolved. they're talking about potentially a mass exodus. governor scott addressing that, also saying that he'll give the governor of puerto rico anything that he needs. jeremy, i am struck by this. they're having this press conference, puerto ricans can't hear any of this. so who is this exactly for? you're talking about needing more trucks and more supplies down there and getting those supplies to the people. that's no surprise. we've been saying that for days. what are they actually doing to make that happen? why is the military not taking

over? is there something missing that i don't understand. >> even if the military were to have a larger presence down there, katy, one of the thins i learned when i was in the virgin islands a couple of days ago reporting on the extensive damage on the ground there is that the military doesn't really have enough to do because of its own chain of command issues and bureaucratic inefficiencies. i saw people in uniform just standing around in parking lots. so somebody i interviewed said to me, it's great that the federal government and fema and the military send people here. but when they send 100 people, 70 of those have clipboards and 30 actually do the work. i think it's just a question of prioritizing tasks and responsibilities. >> the entire island doesn't have any power. what does that mean when you don't have power? lay it out for us. >> on a tropical island, it's a much larger inconvenience than it would be in the united states. think about it this way. a lot of these people don't have

city water. rely on the cisterns in their houses and the electric pumps to provide the water this come to their showers. >> they can't even turn on the faucet to get some sort of drinking water, any water, they can't even boil it if they were to get water. >> unless they have a gas stove. >> yes. >> yeah, exactly, right? it's this cascade effect. and it's not just something, you know, as basic as bathing. it's something that's essential to life as medicine. because think about it this way. if you can't access the internet, your pharmacy can't call your insurance company to verify your insurance -- >> the phone lines don't even work down there. >> because the phone lines don't work, the internet doesn't work. and because we're such a cashless society now, it's a big deal in terms of getting money. they can't go to the atm and get money and they can't use their credit card at the stores to get supplies. >> it's a mess. health and human services

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his travel to asia, africa and europe cost taxpayers an estimated $500,000. add in his domestic travel and politico says it could top 1 million. price apologized last night. >> i work at the pleasure of the president. i look forward to regaining the trust that the american people -- some of the american people may have lost in the activities that i took and to not only regain the trust of the american people but gain the trust of the administration and the president. >> what is price going to do about it? he's vowed that americans won't pay a dime for his seat on the planes. his seat being the key phrase because price plans to write a personal check for $51,000. just a fraction of the flight's cost. remember, it could be as much as $1 million. but price isn't the only administration official facing or feeling political turbulence. treasury secretary steve mnuchin, epa administrator scott

pruitt and interior secretary ryan zinke are all under fire for taxpayer funded private jet use. the controversy raises new ethical concerns for this administration and threatens to undermine trump's campaign pledge to drain the swamp. back with me is kristen welker live at the white house and jeremy peters is a reporter with "the new york times" and msnbc contributor and joining the conversation is drew harwell with "the washington post." guys, welcome back. kristin, the president is reportedly furious. if he is so furious, what's keeping him from firing tom price? >> i think a couple of things, katy, for one, as you pointed out, tom price has been on this apology tour of sorts in addition to that interview that you played a portion of he put out a statement apologizing saying he will pay for the price of his seat. at the same time there is an i.g. investigation under way and an internal review at the white

house. my sense is the president wants to let that play out before making a final decision. he's not giving tom price any assurances, that's for sure. he was asked earlier this week if he was going to fire price. he said, we'll see. yesterday he was asked if he still had confidence in price. he didn't answer that question, katy. sarah huckabee sanders from the podium yesterday was quite clear that the president wasn't pleased by this information and that the administration was looking into the details and potential next steps. the timing of is the difficult for price. this comes on the heels of the latest healthcare failure, the failure to repeal and replace obamacare. he's the hhs secretary. so could he be a potential target all the more so for that reason? but again i think the entire thing remains under review here at the white house. >> drew, $51,000 is what price says he's going to pay back. his department won't say whether or not they're going to pay back the rest of those seats on the

flight that were -- remember -- chartered for him. so drew, is 51 grand a enough here or should he be paying back the full million? >> i mean, 51 grand is a great deal for $900,000 worth of flying. i'd love to pay that percent of my airplane ticket when i fly. he didn't take just the one seat. he took the entire plane and the plane was full of his staff, his security detail. all that was flown for him. if we're to really believe that he's apologetic in saying sorry for this and wanting to atone you would think that he'd want to pay for most of it. >> jeremy, is this draining the swamp? >> that's the biggest question that donald trump will have to answer from his supporters for the rest of his time in office. >> really? >> did the swamp get you. >> but donald trump you tried but the swam was too much. we don't put -- place any of the blame on you. >> there will always be a core 20% or so who think that, yes, he can do no wrong. he could shoot somebody in the

middle of fifth avenue and get away with it. but whether the swamp is a decisive one for the voters. >> why is he putting people in positions of power that are going to take advantage? why is tom price in this position if tom price is the kind of person that's going to spend a million dollar of taxpayer money on private jets in order to get to where he needs to go when he could just, i don't know, take the acela or take a -- even sitting first class in a commercial plane? the people that he's putting into these positions seem to be people that are kind of swampy. >> or willing to abuse their authority. i think it's why donald trump is under such pressure to fire tom price, and it's why i think that you're starting to hear rumblings from inside the white house that trump is indeed genuinely unhappy with this because it looks so bad. and it's just so avoidable. i mean, taking private jets from washington to philadelphia?

really? like you said, you can't jump on the acela? >> it's a quick ride. >> such an unforced error. such a bigger question for tom price. you can't forget his history here. >> exactly. bring that up. >> before confirmed, the questions of whether or not he had received improper tips on stocks he. ed and whether or not he'd introduced legislation to affect the companies in whose stock he owned. >> so basically legislation that would make him personally richer. >> exactly. >> questions about that. drew, not just tom price. he might be the most flagrant example we have here, but steve mnuchin was using government planes. we remember # homemade scarf with his wife. and scott pruitt and ryan zinke are all using some form of taxpayer funded jet. >> so now we're up to four or five cabinet secretaries who are all doing the same thing, taking

military jets that cost a lot of money per hour, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars per hour or they're take private jets on routes that we all take commercial on southwest or delta. you start to ask, the money problem is there. this is costing the american taxpayer, but it's also the symbolism. they're getting a shake that's better than the rest of us because they have staff who are catering to them. getting them these nice private luscious jets. so you have to wonder. are they a step ahead of the rest of us? is that fair? is that swampy? >> kristen, this is all happening as the president and his administration is rying to push tax reform. they're saying we don't want to benefit the wealthy, we want to benefit the middle class. there are questions about his tax plan and whether or not it benefits the middle class more than the wealthy, serious concerns about that. how does this feed into the narrative? >> well, look, you heard him try to sell his tax plan this week. and he certainly is saying this

is targeted at helping the middle class. this is not going to help guys like me. i can guarantee you that. but the question is, katy, is that the truth? we don't know because he hasn't released his tax returns. so we don't know to what extent this may or may not help him and his family members. i thought it was also striking that in terms of that promise that this will lower tax rates for those in the middle class, gary cohn, his top economic adviser was pressed over and over again if he could guarantee that no one's taxes would be increased in the middle class. and he said he just couldn't make that promise. so i think that in terms of selling this, there are going to be some challenges in terms of it fitting into his original message on the campaign trail, this is a populist push about targeting worker, targeting people who need tax breaks. >> "the new york times" has estimated that under this tax plan, these tax ideas, the president and the gop has put

forward donald trump could save as much as $1 billion in his taxes alone. kristen welker, drew harwell and jeremy peters, guys, thank you very much. and the senate intel committee says twitter didn't bring its game during yesterday's grilling about russia's actions in 2016. we'll dig into that and what the committee could do to get answers.

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the senate intelligence committee is not happy about the alleged interference into the russian investigation. jared kushner is in hot water for not telling the committee about his personal account. they asked that he check that he turned over every relevant document. kushner's lawyer issued this statement. it is perfectly normal that the committees would want to make sure -- he was deeply

disappointed even after the platform said it suspended more than 200 russian-linked accounts. >> the response was inadequate on virtually every level and why they need to come forward in a public presentation and explain to the senate and the american public becomes all that more important. >> warner and committee chair richard burr announced today they'll provide an update on their investigation during a news conference on wednesday. joining me here in our washington newsroom to talk about this is michael schmidt, "new york times" reporter and nbc national security contributor. nice to see you in person. i want to talk to twitter to begin with the committee is not satisfied with what they were able to hand over. is twitter going to be facing more pressure from congress to put more regulations on their social media platform?

>> yeah. this has sort of been this part of the story that's been the hardest to understand, how much influence did the russians have through twitter, through facebook and what did it really mean? we've started to unpack that. what twitter is going to do is they're basically going to be subpoenaed by the hill to give over these documents and they're going to have to do it. the issue will be pushing back on the civil libertarians who don't want them to just give everything to the hill and to hand everything over in such a way. >> the intel community in this city, when they look at russian interference and they're looking, as you said, at a lot of things, it's complicated, what is their assessments of social media and how it can be used in 2018 and 2020? >> that's the thing that we struggle to understand. so it's like the russians were feeding this sort of -- they were trying to feed these narratives that they thought would help them, with these accounts. they were trying to create tension among different groups,

but if there's a twitter account that is doing that, but how would that influence other accounts is what i have never understood about this. if they're just tweeting all different things, do they have followers? how do they get that message here into the ether here in the country and how are they able to spread that message? that's something that i still don't understand. you can see how on facebook some of the ads they could catch on and they could be reposted, but on twitter i sort of struggle to get that. >> maybe they follow people, they respond to prominent people, they try to get some sort of retweet. they say something outrageous, they provoke journalists in order for journalists to respond to them and gain their traction. who knows? is there a sense that twitter and facebook are just in over their heads with this? they have no idea themselves how to control this? >> i think they struggle to figure out how are they going to regulate this? how is facebook going to deal with this? because they have this huge free speech issue. >> yeah. >> they can't just take things down, but at the same time

they're now brought into this story in a way where zuckerberg has to sort of explain, you know, how they played a role in this, were they pro trump, were they anti-trump, trump has gone after them. it's a difficult issue that going forward for the nks election. >> part of it is just literally of the american public, being able to understand what is real fake news, what is not true and what is true and being able to trust in the media organizations and trust in "the new york times," "the washington post," people who have a process to do this and not just something that a random person has posted on twitter. that gets to the root of the problem more so than whether the platform can't find a way to control it. >> but to come full circle, you have a president that has made the media of the enemy, that's constantly attacking the media and degrading it and trying to

undercut it and using the mega phone of the white house to do that. so that makes the mainstream media's ability to connect with people even harder. >> jared kushner dmot giving over relevant documents according to the committee. they wanted to know about the private e-mail account. he seems to be doing things almost -- it feels like every other week that he was not supposed to do. revealing more and more information. how frustrated right now are the congressional committees with jared kushner? >> the problem is that when stuff like this comes out, that he had an account and that they didn't know about it, they assume the worst case scenario. they assume that there are things that they don't have. so of course they're going to get rile upped about it. kushner's lawyer says there's nothing to be seen there. >> but kushner's lawyers have said things and it's turned out not to be true. >> even inside the white house i've been told that the white house counsel was explicit with these folks about not using the

personal e-mail accounts. they knew the problem of hillary clinton. they knew what a central issue this was to the trump campaign. they warned them over and over again. now they're confronting it again. >> what are the feelings? the rules don't apply to them? >> i'd hate to guess what they're feeling, but they didn't follow the rules. >> got it. michael schmidt, good to see you in person. >> thanks for having me. >> joining us now is connecticut democratic congressman jim himes, he serves on the intelligence committee in the house of representatives. congressman, good to see you. i want to talk about twitter for a moment. they came in, they said that they dismantled a few hundred accounts that were linked to russia, russian accounts. what more do they need to do to satisfy your committee? >> well, you know, remember that was on the senate side. on the house side we've had a little bit of a struggle in getting them to produce some of the private messagesing that we were hoping to see, to be helpful. and i think, katy, the key here is you know where twitter and facebook and apple and all these

california-based high-tech companies come from. they come from a culture which is very libertarian and they hope never to have to deal with regulation or the federal government. and in some areas they have a good point. you remember the argument we had after the san bernardino killings when apple was saying, don't force us to build a key to our phones that will allow them to be broken into because if you do that, the fbi won't be the only person who has the key. the terrorists will have the keys, the russians, the iranians. that was a value and anl good discussion. twitter and facebook need to understand that's not where they are right now. where they are right now is deciding whether they're going to help the investigation into an attack on the united states and not just on the united states but into an attack on the very core of our democracy and set aside the understandable kind of libertarian instinct to not cooperate because this isn't a bad idea like creating a back door access to a device.

it's a good idea which is to help us to really understand so we can defend against it and to that commercially you can also be aware of how you were used, work with us on that. they're not there yet. >> what's the solution? more regulations? >> no, i don't necessarily know that it's more regulation. look, we can require facebook and twitter to produce whatever we want, as can a prosecutor through the process of a subpoena. and that's fine. we can do that. but i think what's really important here is more that cultural, that intellectual shift that people like mark zuckerberg and the folks that will run twitter need to make, which is that when it comes down to dealing with an attack on the country in which their commercial products were used as a tool, the government has an interest in understanding it, they should partner with us. and by god, they have an interest in understanding it. because there's a long tradition of american companies helping out when the country has been threatened or attacked. >> congressman, what's your take on jared kushner using a private

e-mail? >> well, you know, look, i guess there were a limited number of e-mails, presumably they will be produced. what i just can't get over is just the stunning, dripping irony of not just jared kushner but a number of white house people apparently using private e-mail when part of the reason they're in the white house is because their most severe and never-ending attack on their opponent, hillary clinton, was that she was using a private e-mail. so again, it's just mind bogingly ironic. we'll see those e-mails. we'll take his lawyer at his word been that we'll see those e-mails. but the sheer irony that they'd use that attack on hillary clinton to defeat the woman then turn around and do the same thing is a little hard to get over. >> congressman jim hymes. thank you very much. >> thank you, katy. federal officials are warning americans if you're heading to cuba, rethink your trip. we'll explain why and how it's forcing more than half of all

u.s. workers to head home. plus, we have one more thing you just have to see. an air force general has taken a stand against hate by telling his cadets to hit record. business is in my blood. i'm the daughter of two entrepreneurs. as a business owner myself, i know that the challenges are ever-changing. on "your business" we'll learn from decision-makers whose experience can help your company grow and prosper. weekend mornings at 7:30 on msnbc or connect with us anytime on all your devices. >> announcer: sponsored by american express open. helping you get business done. what does that mean for purchasing? purchase. let's do this. got it. book the flights! hai! si! si! ya! ya! ya! what does that mean for us? we can get stuff. what's it mean for shipping? ship the goods.

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or a little internet machine? it makes you wonder: shouldn't we get our phones and internet from the same company? that's why xfinity mobile comes with your internet. you get up to 5 lines of talk and text at no extra cost. so all you pay for is data. see how much you can save. choose by the gig or unlimited. xfinity mobile. a new kind of network designed to save you money. call, visit, or go to xfinitymobile.com. today the u.s. responded to the mysterious sonic takes on 21 embassy employees in cuba leaving them with hearing loss and other medical issues.

the state department is pulling more than half of its diplomatic staff out of the embassy in havana and stopped processing visa applications. american citizens warned not to travel to the island. u.s. investigators still don't know who or what is behind the attacks or exactly what the attacks were that began in the falling of 2016. it continued until last month, but cuba says -- cube sa says -- it is not responsible. florida senator marco rubio complained about the response on twitter writing some at the state department wants a massive drawdown of americans at the u.s. embassy in cuba but allow castro to keep regime embassy in d.c. virtually the same. castro regime allows attacks on americans forcing up to drou down to keep them safe but he gets to keep same number of people here? joining us now is ambassador vicky huddleston, a former chief of the u.s. interests section in

havana. what the embassy was before diplomatic relations were restored in 2015. also author of the forthcoming book eour woman in havana: a diplomat's chronicle of our long struggle with fidel castro's cuba." ambassador thank you very much for joining us. >> katy, great to be here. >> good. the sonic attacks. we think they might be sonic attacks. what do you make of this, and having spent a lot of time down there, what is your sense of who could potentially be responsible for this? >> thank you, katy. first of all i'd like to say i'm real sorry for the diplomats to suffered these attacks. even experts don't know but increasingly it is looking like an attack and not a listening device that malfunctioned or anything like that.

in other words, it looks as if its deliberate, although random and directed only at american diplomats with the one exception of a canadian. secondly, i'd like to say that i think the administration initially handled this very well. both obama administration, where during the time most of the attacks happened as well as the trump administration. but now it seems as if we're back to domestic politics on cuba as usual, and the sonic attacks that happened over eight months ago are being used by senator marco rubio, senator ted cruz and other conservative cuban-americans to wind down and even push back further the initiative between, of opening between that that was started by

recall ca raul castro and president obama. i don't think this is going to show us who is responsible. it's a disaster. the cubans were saying we'll work with you. they allowed the fbi to come several times to cuba. so we were on the track of getting there. but now as relationships deteriorate especially as marco rubio calls for a drawdown at the cuban embassy in washington, d.c., as we draw down our embassy in havana, seems to me that relationship is really just falling apart. >> who else might want -- >> we have to think who else is likely -- >> pardon me? >> i think i'm getting to what you were about to say. who else might want the u.s. and cuba not to proceed? >> that's i think the key. i think our investigators need to look at who gets an advantage. first of all, hard-liners in

cuba. fidel castro did not like the opening. so there's certainly hard-liners, a rogue group, in cuba that may be responsible. secondly, clearly, very conservative cuban-americans don't like the opening either, and they use this as a wedge to unwind the obama opening. and then, third, russia or china. both gain in influence in cuba politically, militarily and economically if the united states's instoonfluence is diminished. >> former u.s. ambassador to tamale, vicky huddleston, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. and show respect or goat get o out. the message laid out yesterday in colorado.

as the gazette and colorado springs reports, investigators are trying to find out who wrote the words "go home" on the message boards of five black prep students yesterday. despite this, ordered all 4,000 cadets to attention and then did this -- >> if you're outraged by those words then you're in the right place. you should be outraged nome as an airman but assen human being. we would be tone deaf not to think about the backdrop of what's going on in our country. things like charlottesville and ferguson. the protests in the nfl. grab your phones. i want you to videotape so you have it so you can use it. so we all have the moral courage together. this is our institution. if you can't treat someone with dignity and respect, then get out.

>> lieutenant general reminding cadets they all come from all walks of life and their diversity is far more powerful than "small thinking and horrible ideas." that wraps things up for me live from washington, d.c. ali velshi picks things up from new york now. ali, a wonderful reminder, i think, to end on. >> excellent reminder and thankfully sometimes good things like that go viral. it's all over the internet. thank you for the reminder. have a good afternoon. desperation in puerto rico. there seems to be no relief in sight despite containers sitting at the dock waiting to be opened, distributed to people. the long lines get longer as people now travel hours for the basic necessities, like food and water, cash and gasoline. the u.s. and the local government promising a massive response. >> -- of over 10,000 feder